No Progress In Increasing Black Faculty At Harvard

At a 2007 reception on the Harvard campus held for the Association of Black Faculty, Administrators, and Fellows, Drew Gilpin Faust, then the new president of Harvard University, called for the creation of “a different Harvard,” one with far greater numbers of black faculty members. Speaking of the scope of the African-American hirings that she planned, Faust said, “One of our goals is, maybe three years from now, we can’t have this party here anymore,” Faust said. “It’s going to be so big. First, we’re going to move up to Annenberg [one of the largest buildings on the Harvard campus]. Next, we’re going to have to go to the stadium.”

President Faust’s hope in 2007 that in three years the university would need a bigger facility to fit all of Harvard’s black faculty is not going to come to pass. Since President Faust has come to Harvard, the number of black faculty has not increased at all. There are 45 black nonmedical faculty members at Harvard this year, the same number as when Dr. Faust was appointed. And due to an overall increase in the number of faculty, the percentage of blacks on the Harvard faculty has actually decreased from 3.5 percent to 3.0 percent during Faust’s tenure.